Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

7 Ideas for Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2016

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April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)! In addition to taking part in International Anti-Street Harassment Week (April 10-16), here are 7 ideas for action in 2016.

1. Believe/help survivors. Believe survivors when they confide in you. Visit the website of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network to find information to help you help the survivor. And to find information to help yourself.

rainnhelp2. Find help. If you are a survivor who isn’t sure where to turn to or how to get help, I highly recommend visiting the RAINN website. I volunteered with them for 2.5 years and applaud their work. You can find information about a phone or online hotline and information about recovery.

* Do you identify as male? Visit the website 1 in 6 for resources specifically for you.

* Are you in the military? RAINN has a helpline called Safe Helpline specifically for survivors in the military.

3. Raise awareness on social media. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center provides a variety of resources each year for SAAM, including free reports and manuals and campaign materials. They also are running daily Instagram contests (#30DaysofSAAM) and have images you can post on your other social media accounts. April 5 is the SAAM Day of Action! Use tweets, posts, and status updates to share the word about #SAAM. Download their social media guide for specifics.

4. Wear jeans. Make a social statement by wearing jeans on April 27 as part of Denim Day in LA & USA. The day is a visible way to protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault. Register today and raise awareness at your workplace, neighborhood, or community. Encourage each person who participates to donate one dollar to Denim Day to fund prevention programming.

5. Watch The Hunting Ground. This important Oscar-nominated documentary about campus sexual assault is now available for streaming on Netflix. Invite others to watch it (and schedule in some self-care time afterward as it’s an important but also upsetting film).

6. Order We Believe You. Annie C. Clark and Andrea L. Pino, the main subjects of The Hunting Ground film and founders of End Rape on Campus, have a new book coming out April 12, We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out. It includes  stories from “students from every kind of college and university―large and small, public and private, highly selective and less so―[who] share experiences of trauma, healing, and everyday activism, representing a diversity of races, economic and family backgrounds, gender identities, immigration statuses, interests, capacities, and loves. Theirs is a bold, irrefutable sampling of voices and stories that should speak to all.”

7. Use the arts or march. Take part or organize arts-based initiatives or a march to raise awareness about sexual assault. Examples of initiatives include:

kiajStnb* Organize or participate in a Take Back the Night March in your community or on campus and make a statement that women have the right to be in public and to go about their lives without the risk of sexual violence. Order a kit with resources for the event.

* The Clothesline Project, an initiative to bear witness to violence against women. Women affected by violence decorate a shirt and hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of men’s violence against women.

* V-Day event offers several performance and film screening options for groups to implement in their community in February, March, and April. The purpose of these events is to raise awareness about violence against women and girls as well as raise money for local beneficiaries that are working to end violence. There is no theater or producing experience necessary. Visit the V-Day website to learn how to organize a V-Day event.

* Story of a Rape Survivor (SOARS) is an award winning multimedia performance from A Long Walk Home you can bring to your community that entertains as well as educates the audience about sexual assault prevention. Featuring the music of Nina Simone, Maxwell, and Sade, SOARS tells one woman’s story about how she reclaimed her body, sexuality, and self-esteem after being sexually assaulted in college. SOARS is a cutting-edge theatrical experience that stars a diverse cast of women, combining photographs, dance, spoken-word poetry and music as a way to educate about healing from sexual violence.

* By wearing a white ribbon, White Ribbon Campaign members make a personal pledge to “never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls.” You can order materials to help challenge the community to speak out on the issue, learn about sexual violence, and raise public awareness.

(And if you’re unsure about the connection between street harassment and sexual assault, listen to a CALCASA Prevention podcast  or watch a video where I talk about the connections. Briefly, some of the connections are that both behaviors fall on the same spectrum of gender violence; street harassment sometimes escalates into sexual violence; and street harassment can be re-triggering for survivors of sexual abuse.)

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Support anti-street harassment efforts this holiday season

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Lately, I’ve been inundated with e-mails and letters from every organization I donated to during their year + their best friend organizations, asking me to donate again. As much as I obviously care about most of those organizations if I’ve already donated to them, my end of year giving is going to two organizations that do anti-street harassment-related work, RightRides and RAINN. You may be interested in donating to them, too.

  • Right Rides for Women’s Safety: For more than six years RightRides has been giving free rides home to women and male members of the LGBQT community on Friday and Saturday nights in New York City. This free service is particularly helpful to people who cannot afford a cab and are reliant on buses and subways and feel unsafe waiting for or taking these late at night. RightRides has a page about the many ways you can become involved. A new feature is recurring gifts. $10/month can cover rides home for 12 people that year and $25/month covers about 30 people’s rides home. Any amount helps.
  • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): Individuals across the United States can seek immediate assistance and advice if they or someone they know are survivors of rape and sexual violence via RAINN’s national phone hotline and online chat feature. While most people know their attacker, about 25 percent do not, and many of those cases are strangers in public places who harass and attack them. When too often survivors of sexual violence are blamed for it and thus are silenced and don’t know what to do, RAINN’s services are very important. RAINN also works on prevention legislation and programming. If you donate by Dec. 31, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar, so you can make double the impact.

Here are additional suggestions for organizations whose work makes public places – and the world in general – safer for women and girls. Not only could you do end-of-year giving to them, but you could make a gift out of donating in honor of family members and friends who care about ending and/or are impacted by street harassment.

  • Blank Noise – Support work in India to raise awareness about and end eve teasing/street harassment through performance art and online activism
  • Defend Yourself – Support the work of a Washington, DC organization that holds community workshops and classes that teach skills to stop harassment, abuse and assault. They particularly focus on girls, women, and LGBQT folks.
  • Girls for Gender Equity – Support a NYC organization that empowers teenage girls and has tackled street harassment through surveys, documentaries, conferences, and books
  • Helping Our Teen Girls – Help fund the programs of an Atlanta, GA, organization that empowers teenage girls and has tackled street harassment through workshops and music.
  • Hollaback – Support the NYC-based organization so they can  fund new Hollaback websites around the world
  • The Line – Help fund programs to raise awareness of healthy sexual boundaries, important work that can help prevent street harassment and sexual assault.
  • Men Can Stop Rape – Support rape prevention programming in middle and high schools and colleges that focuses on providing boys with a safe place to talk about masculinity issues and learn healthy definitions of manhood.
  • The White Ribbon Campaign – Support an international organization that works to educate young men and boys about gender equity, respect and healthy relationships.
  • Women for Women International – Help fund programming that helps women in war-torn areas gain skills and resources necessary to rebuild their lives and increase their safety in their community. You can also sponsor an individual woman as a sister.

And are you looking for other last-minute gift ideas? I can suggest a few:

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Sexual Assault Awareness Month: 10 Ideas for Activism

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Verbal gender-based street harassment would not be as threatening or scary if there was not a very real underlying threat of sexual violence. About one in six women will face sexual violence in her lifetime (roughly 17%). While most women will know the person who hurts them, the randomness of the attacks on those who do not can keep most women on guard when they are alone in public.

Ending sexual violence would make women feel safe in public and in general (though not always welcome in public if they’re still being demeaned and disrespected by verbal harassment).

Ending sexual violence is an abstract and seemingly unrealistic goal, but it is an important one. And we can each do small things to help achieve it. For example, in our daily life we can challenge sexism, always ask for consent with our sexual partners, and avoid using violence.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) so I also want to highlight some of the many projects and initiatives you can become involved with to work to end sexual violence. The initiatives focus on raising awareness about the high rates of sexual assault and raising money to help fund essential programs focused on prevention and helping survivors. I’ve included a list of several of these below.

I hope this month everyone can do at least one thing – be it donating a few dollars to an anti-sexual violence organization or attending an event – to help bring us that much closer to the ultimate goal of ending sexual violence.

  1. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center provides a variety of resources each year for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, including free reports and manuals and campaign materials. Their goal is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals about how to prevent sexual violence. Order and use their items in your workplace, campus, or at a community event.
  2. Organize or participate in The Clothesline Project, an initiative to bear witness to violence against women. Women affected by violence decorate a shirt and hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of men’s violence against women. Read instructions on how to start a Clothesline Project in your community or on campus.
  3. Participate in Denim Day in LA & USA. Make a social statement by wearing jeans on a designated day in April (this year it is April 21) as a visible means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault. Order their Denim Day Action Kit and raise awareness at your workplace, neighborhood, or community. Encourage each person who participates to donate one dollar to Denim Day to fund prevention programming.
  4. Are you a runner or walker? Sign up for a local race in April and fundraise for Jeans for Justice as part of their Justice in Motion program. All fundraising proceeds will go toward art-based educational initiatives about sexual assault at high schools and college campuses. (My parents and I are participating in this program by running a half marathon on April 11)
  5. Organize or participate in a Take Back the Night March in your community or on campus and make a statement that women have the right to be in public and to go about their lives without the risk of sexual violence. Order a kit with resources for the event.
  6. Organize or participate in a V-Day event. V-Day offers several performance and film screening options for groups to implement in their community in February, March, and April. The purpose of these events is to raise awareness about violence against women and girls as well as raise money for local beneficiaries that are working to end violence. There is no theater or producing experience necessary. Visit the V-Day website to learn how to organize a V-Day event.
  7. Help start a White Ribbon Campaign in your community. By wearing a white ribbon, campaign members make a personal pledge to “never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls.” You can order materials to help challenge the community to speak out on the issue, learn about sexual violence, and raise public awareness.
  8. During April you can order Men Can Stop Rape materials at a 30% discount. Order posters and hang them up in your community or workplace or on campus. Sign up for their summer training on prevention and involving men in ending sexual violence.
  9. Are you on campus? Find out your campus sexual assault policy and participate in SAFER (Students Active for Ending Rape) and V-Day’s Campus Accountability Project. Submit your school’s policy for inclusion in their database. Want to improve your campus policy? SAFER offers various online resources and guides and they will even come to your campus to train you in how to go about improving the policy.
  10. Volunteer or donate for a rape crisis center at the local or national level. Help raise money or donate to an organization like RAINN. (I’m coming up my second anniversary as a RAINN volunteer for their Online Hotline; it’s emotional but powerful and worthwhile work).

Thank you. You can make a difference!

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